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It's All Random

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Starting with the Roman Republic in 300BC and continued during the Roman Empire, the Roman State built and maintained hundreds of thousands of miles of roads. The roads were important for the movement of people, trade, and of course, armies. At its height, the empire had over 250,000 miles of roads – of which 50,000 miles were paved. So what would it take for the representation of these ancient roads in the modern world? A subway map, of course!

Sasha Trubetskoy created this map representing Roman roads in 125 AD in a fashion similar to modern subway maps. Sasha says the map involved a lot of research since there was no single consistent source, plus, some creative liberties had to be taken for the map.

The video presents a quick, animated history of Russia “From the Rus’ to the Tzars, to Joseph Stalin, Russia has had an impact on the world for many centuries”. It isn’t as fun as the History of Japan, but it does the job of presenting a quick history lesson.

The 16th century was seeing warfare get revolutionized. Gunpowder had shown up on the scene and changed warfare from the way humans had been accustomed to fighting forever. With every drastic change, come new strategies, and a good number of them are likely to be wacky; like these illustrations from a 1530 war manual that advocates using animals to deliver weapon payloads.

Animals play the famous personalities of history in this set of illustrations by artist Christina Hess. Walking the line of a previous set of illustrations by the artist, this set is currently finished in graphite in bristol. The artist intends to have them in color for her Animals From History book, and is currently looking for a publisher.

There are a few things humanity has been consistent in throughout its history. Ingesting alcohol is probably one of the few fun things we’ve been doing ever since the time of our ancestors. Perhaps as a testament to that fact, Japanese archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the tomb of a dude who apparently was maker of beer for gods of the dead.

Our ancestors just got schooled in modern technology, and moments of history have ended up on Instagram. Histagrams is a humorous and ongoing series where MTV designers Gusto NYC and Gavin Alaoen present remarkable moments of history as they would probably have been posted on Instagram; had the old ones been cool enough to use it.

Illustrations from artist Christina Hess show animals playing the roles of important characters of human history. These illustrations are part of her e-book Animals From History. The illustrations are also available as prints and a calendar on the artist’s Etsy shop.

The suit Neil Armstrong wore when stepping onto the moon was made using cutting edge technology of that time. A good part of that technology and suit construction came from a bra manufacturer in Dover, Delaware. The suit had to live up to a whole range of specifications, a very important one being that it be capable of containing the pressure necessary to support life i.e. 3.75 pounds per square inch of pure oxygen.

Chess has a long history, and obviously has undergone several changes in more than a millennium of existence. During one of these times, chess pawns weren’t so ignored pieces on the board, speaking in terms of names. While other pieces get flashy names and ranks, for the casual observer, pawns are little more than slow moving cannon fodder.

Master Lego builder James Pegrum is telling Britain’s long history in brief with Lego models to mark important events. The set starts from the construction of the Stonehenge at around 2500 BC, and goes on to Margaret Thatcher’s first day at 10 Downing Street. Hit ahead for a quick lesson in British history, told the way only Lego can tell.